Gooner Spy

Back to the point of the thread...... Just heard from a decent source that Joleon Lescott will sign for Arsenal today. Sounds fishy to me......

Thats still 'only' 25 million, or one Owen Hargreaves.

I dont think the minor issue of team support would stop the Chavs kicking off with eachother if penned in for 8 hours!

Holy s***, thats crazy. The whole Moscow idea was always a concerning one, the sheer financial outlay if nothing else being prohibitive. I got a bit ahead of myself when I got back from Milan, and looked at flights and hotels for the Final. Flights at that point were near enough 500 pound, even from Ireland, and a hotel room was just not there to be had.

Ermmm.......I think my point was more aimed at lesser known players, signed for a modest fee, who have gone on and established themselves at one of the big 4. Buying some s***kicker for 3.5 million could be achieved by anyone.

Ok, I take that back, apologies. You should get over your thing about me being a Liverpool fan though, seriously.

Always seems to be Joe Jordan or Tony Adams.

Was surprised to see him - was that the fisrt time since the bung programme? Didnt pull any punches, either, when talking about the fans booing the team off.

fair point, it just always just struck me as being a bit wierd. Something like Istanbul I can sorta see as the roller coaster would screw with anyones emotions, but I was more talking about just 'conventional' defeat. I spose relegation is worse than not winning a cip final, but I bet you will see tears in Moscow. It almost looks like attention seeking.

I love that little man.

I can't fathom the idea of being sat at home on the night your team wins the league with nothing ebtter to do than post on an internet forum. The best nights of my life have been in Upper Street celebrating title wins.

Amen to that.

Read again. How the f*** is £12 million a modest fee?

What a c**k. Seriously.

I think they absolutely needed a new right back. What I dispute is that any challenging team should wave the white flag because they cant all spend 16m on a full back. there are cheaper, and potentially better alternatives. All you need is a canny manager, a good scouting network and the willingness to take a chance. It seems the top 2 have neither of these, as all they do is lazily go out and buy the most established players available in each position.

OK, but it was explicitly stated earlier on - I'm not aware of this happening:

Exactly. A player doesnt need to have an exorbitant price tag to be any good. Just need clever scouts and a manager prepared to take a punt on the lesser known players. Its one limitation of Ferguson that over the years, when he has tried to do that, he has failed miserably (Kleberson, Djemba Djemba etc). In fact, is there one good example between Chelsea and Man Utd in the past 5 years of a lesser known player signed for a modest fee who has gone on to establish themselves? I genuinely cant think of one?

That actually wasnt me - what was the story there?

Sorry to go back to Arsenal, but it really doesnt have to be like that. Sagna was arguably the most consistent right back in the league this year, and cost a shade over 5 million.

It hasn't changed though, its always been the case, and its not just the mancs who benefit, and its not just in England (see the Kuyt/Toure incidents). I think they have benfitted more than most, but not exclusively.

Some amount of money for a right back, that. Porto must be absolutely minted with the money Man U and Chelsea keep firing at them every summer?

Corruption is a big word to throw out there. Corruption is the wilful and premeditated attempt to 'get to' someone who can directly affect the outcome of a match. Whilst there is no doubt a refereee can directly affect the outcome of the game, it is a massively dangerous leap to suggest this is happening. the natural bias that accompanies human nature is not corruption.

Genuinely dont believe that to be the case. Incompetence - check. Agenda's/Favouritism - check. Influence of alcoholic Scottish manager - check. Really dont believe there's any out and out corruption.

I wonder if the French get their act together could Benzema be an outside shout for Golden Boot?

Hard to look far beyond Torres for top scorer. Is Van Nistelroy still out of favour with the Dutch?